Remember, remember, the month of November (2010), babies all over the shop!

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Congratulations comtessa, Wow! I hope you're recovering well after what sounds like hard work.

Good luck for today sgj

Congratulations Comtessa! Hope you're recovering all right. Lovely name.

Good luck SGJ, the blood sounds promising! I didn't start bleeding till I'd started having contractions so hopefully means you're close.

Yay - congratulations comtessa - sounds like you had a tough time. I love your choice of name- so pretty. hope all is well.

Good luck with induction SGJ

all ok here, still a total emotional wreck - please tell me it' normal to cry a lot? the tears are mostly about BF'ing. my nipples are very sore and bleeding but have been told my latch is fine - they do however suspect DS might have slight tongue tie - waiting for a call from TT clinic tomorrow. I want to BF, but with all the pain, struggles to latch him on (4 or 5 attempts each time), constant 'snacking' I am really wanting to switch to formula.
DP is being very supportive and trying to keep me going - so for now it's one day at at time, I know every feed I give him is a bonus - just wish it didn't hurt.
anyone struggling a bit with BF'ing? anyone chosen to or had to switch to FF?
on the plus side, some of my tears come from staring at DS and getting big rushes of love

Congratulations Comtessa .....And wow what a size :)

Good luck SGJ hope all goes well

Lainey Ive felt very similar at times about BF and am sure the cold weather isn't helping sore nipples!! When I go out it feels like glass is inside my bra where they sting so much!! Latching on would sometimes take a while but more often than not Evie gets it pretty quickly now. Was so worried about BF when out because of this as had visions of my boob hanging out in public while she struggled to get it!! Fortunately its easier now but I think it helps that I've stopped worrying about it so much so she doesn't sense any anxiety! For us it definitely got better (although still pretty painful at times!!) so hopefully it will for you too :)
So weird as feel really guitly if I stop, and even felt bad about giving her a bottle of expressed milk! Not sure why but believe this is what has kept me going!! Definitely get where your coming from tho so rest assured your not alone :)

It's DH and my 4th anniversary today so we went out last night for a nice meal whilst Evie slept which was nice :) DH suggested I expressed a bottle and parents had her for a couple of hours but I just don't feel ready to leave her yet. When do people think that will happen from personal experience?

Lainey I had something V similar, really wanted to bf but had lots of trouble. We're now doing mixed feeding with Bf, expressed milk and some formula. Its much better.

It will get easier, honest, easy to say but I promise it really does.
Have you tried nipple shields? Expressing?
I found just expressing a tiny bit, to get my milk flowing, before I latched her on, made it less painful.
Once the baby is on, try rubbing ears or gently blowing if they stop feeding, it seems to reduce the frequency of snacks slightly and make them concentrate a bit more.
And Lansinoh nipple cream is a god send. Expensive but you only use tiny bits so it lasts ages.
Use proper pads in your bra too, to stop the fabric rubbing

I know what you mean babybean, DH's parents are desperate to babysit but Im just not comfortable with it yet

Yay, Comtessa! And my word, that is a big baby. Well done you, and welcome to little Anya.

Lainey, it sounds like you're having a difficult time. DS2 sometimes takes a few goes to get a decent latch. They're still learning how to BF, too. If tongue tie isn't the problem, then also check that you don't have nipple thrush as that is mighty painful. Stabbing, shards of glass-type pain. You can have a good latch and still have pain, so get thee to the GP or chemist to see if you need some cream. I didn't use nipple shields, but they have their uses, especially if it helps you keep BFing.

Also, yes it gets easier. But sometimes it's harder, too. Like when they cluster feed. DS was quite snacky and I found it so frustrating when he would doze off during feeds. But it does get better as BF gets established and they can go longer between feeds.

Hope everyone else doing well. Must check out PN thread!

lainey I'm another one struggling with bf. Norry had a tt to start with that wasn't diagnosed straight away. It made the first few days hell as we tried and failed to get a latch. Once the tt was diagnosed we used bottles and a mix of expressed milk and formula for the first 10 days until the tt was resolved and since then I've been bf with the odd bottle of expressed milk to top him up in the evenings when he gets really fussy and wants to feed every 5 minutes and my nipples can't take it any longer. We're probably going to move to mixed feeding though as he hasn't put on any weight since last week, again

It took him about 10 days to become reliable when latching on. In fact, I did my first public breasfeeding today while talking to the bank manager. If you'd told me that a week ago I wouldn't have believed you :)

I cried every day for the first fortnight and still have teary moments (sometimes for good, sometimes not so positive) but it definitely started getting better for me when a) I could sit without pain and walk normally, and b) the feeding settled down. You're right to take it one day at a time and don't beat yourself up if you need to give the odd bottle to keep yourself sane. They do advise to wait 6 weeks before introducing bottles but we have had a good experience moving from bottles to breast to mixed feeds within the first month so it can be done if you need to.

I hope everything settles down for you soon lainey and it's great that your DH is being so supportive, it makes such a difference.

bean I left (4.3 week old) Norry with DH for 1 1/2 hr on Saturday (between two feeds) and it felt great (I did the weekly food shop - yeah, really pushed the boat out ). I'm not sure I'd leave him with someone other than DH for the moment though. I'd probably consider it when we start having some sort of routine but when that might be goodness knows!

Yes, and do come over and join us on the PN thread :)

thanks for sharing your experiences- makes me feel better that I'm not alone in my struggles
Fen I think I am going to keep with the mixed feeding as DS doesn't seem to be getting any confusion - if he does have TT and this is corrected hopefully this will improve things and make me feel better about night feeds.

I shall pop over to post natal later and say hello

oh and v impressed with your public BFing not sure I'd ever have the confidence.

Fenouille Very impressed at your public BF whilst talking to the bank manager, Im nowhere near that brave yet! Took her out for an hour in the buggy on my own today and that felt like a big deal so am at you :)

Will be back soon to add the full, amazing details, but at 11.25pm tonight Jessica was born after only 6 hours of painful contractions and only gas and air. Didn't end up being induced and my fantastic sister (who is a midwife in another hospital) got to deliver her. Husband was brilliant, can't sleep now but so happy and little gorgeous girl has been latched on like a pro since birth. Overwhelmed and so, so happy! Xx

Congratulations SGJ! That sounds really amazing :o

Congratulations SGJ, best feeling in the world :)

sgj how wonderful for you :) congratulations

aw shucks Actually I have also been mega stressing about public bf but when it came to it it was more a case of "bugger, Norry needs feeding and there's no way he's going to wait until I've finished here," so I just did it without really thinking. It did help that the bank manager was female, but she was obviously embarrassed. I just carried on talking as usual and she was able to look me in the eye after about 5 minutes

Have we all popped now? See you on the other side (pn thread) then

Where's 4madboys? Yoooooouuuhooooooo? Too busy with baby girl cuddles I reckon.

Evening all. Got home this lunchtime - SO happy to be at home again.

So, having been having CX on and off since mid-November, I didn't take much notice when CX started on Friday night. Until my waters broke around 5am Saturday morning. Into triage unit at hospital for 8am where they found meconium in the waters and so decided to induce that day (induction had already been booked for today). Moved into labour suite immediately and started with pessary. Nothing. Next up, drip.
Around 4am Sunday morning I was only 2cm dilated. EMCS arranged and Anya arrived at 7.12am. When I was being transferred to the ward bed in the surgery room post-partum the surgeon told me I was never to attempt a vaginal birth, should I have any more children. (Anya DC1 - and possibly only DC).

Anya latched on within ten minutes of being wheeled out of surgery and all was going well but by yesterday evening she was getting really hungry and I was in tears as she was not getting enough from me and it was all getting painful. Topped up with FF through the night and today and saw a slight improvement this afternoon so really hoping this is the start of my milk coming through.

Oh yes, reason for not attempting VBAC in future is size (11lbs 8oz) and also that she was just not in any hurry at all to come out, I think.

Hi ladies,
I havent been on for weeks... just quick note to say congrats to all the new mammies and to let you know my little girl Sophia arrived on Nov 24th, (11 days late!)

We are both doing well and she is just the sweetest little thing!

Hope you are all snuggled up at home :)

hello all, not read back just to say that the first madGIRL arrived at 1:50am on sunday 5th dec, weighing in at 8lbs exactly.

labour was bloody hard work much harder than my other four, but she is soooo worth it, so dinky and cute, i have never had a baby this small before, she is 3lbs less than ds4 was at birth.

oh ds1 got to be at the birth and cut the cord, so he is one VERY proud big brother :)

we dont have a name yet, but she is feeding well and i am recovering fine from the birth, just rather tired!

anyone wanting to see pics we have an account on flickr, alastairbray, it is a public account so can be viewed by all, just a few pics on there at the mo, but i will update with more when iget the chance!

congrats to anyone else who has had a baby and good luck to those still waiting, is there a stats thread? how many of us are left to pop?

lainey, comtessa, SGJ, tiany and 4madboysandonegirl, congratulations! :)

Am up at stupid o'clock ... and have put some baby photos on my profile :)

Huge congratulations tiany and 4madboys! :)

is that everyone now?

Robert Thomas, born at 11.39am on Monday, 6th December - 18 days late! Induction with prostin gel began on Thursday evening, six painful doses later there'd been no effect on my cervix so the waters couldn't be broken and I had a c-section. Hadn't really prepared myself for the prospect of induction not working, but the op itself was very calm and relaxed, feeling more like an elective section than the "emergency" one it was.

Feeling quite sore and have had some feeding issues but hoping we might go home tomorrow - a week after first arriving!

He's gorgeous and snuggly though - 8lbs 6oz, but he'd run out of amniotic fluid (so I think it would have always ended this way as it would have been picked up by a monitoring scan)

Congrats to everyone who's had their babies and dilating thoughts to anyone still waiting!

lainey, SGJ, tiany 4mad and crafty congratulations to you all :)

landb cute babies. :)...and don't they look so similar!! I should have just said pics were on my profile instead if failing hopelessly with the link about 3 times!!

Well. It's almost exactly 3 days since Jessica was born and we're totally loving it!

So was booked in for induction on Monday 6th at 12 days overdue, but had a bit of bleeding on Sunday evening and then around midnight started having some contractions. Got the tens going around 2am and had a night of cxs about 7mins apart until about 7am.

Rang hospital at 8 and as cxs were now slowed to about 20 mins apart they said come in for induction appt anyway and at least see what the state of things were. After a half hour of monitoring and an examination they were surprised to find me 3cm already and pretty much fully effaced, so decided not to bother with pessary induction and go straight to breaking waters, hooray!
At 6.30pm we were in delivery room for water breaking, but there was some meconium in the water, so I was put on the drip too... was old mec, fortunately, so we weren't too concerned. Cxs started getting very close together and I eventually moved on to gas & air, and felt like pushing around 11pm... she was born within half an hour and was just perfect.
Throughout all of the labour my sister had been with us for support but as it got closer to actually giving birth I felt less wierded out by the idea of her delivering and more like it would be perfect if she did, and fortunately the hospital midwife was fine with it, plus fine with letting my mum come in for the pushing stage too! It really was a fantastic 'family' birth, which I never thought I'd want, but was exactly right at the time, and so much more detailed and special than I've managed to write here (even though I've written an essay!), plus official 1st & 2nd stage time was 4 & half hours, so I'm very impressed with myself!

Meant to add that although she feeds well she is an absolute demon on my nipples, so we may be working with some nipple shields in the near future! Anyone else tried them?